NEW DELHI: Indian hockey legend Balbir Singh Sr breathed his last at a Mohali hospital on Monday morning. He was 96.
The triple Olympic Champion and World Cup-winning team manager had been battling for life since 8 May when he was hospitalised due to pneumonia and was on ventilator support.
Balbir Sr was the most decorated athlete in Indian sports history with Olympic medals in 1948, 1952 and 1956 Summer Games. He coached the Indian team which won the Bronze medal at the 1971 World Cup and was manager of the Indian team that won the Gold medal at the 1975 World Cup. He had scored five goals in India's 6-1 victory over the Netherlands in the Gold medal match of the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Under his captaincy, India scored 38 goals and conceded none on its way to the Gold medal in 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
Singh, whose full name was Balbir Singh Dosanjh, but was called Senior to differentiate from the other five Balbirs who played for India in later years, was also the oldest surviving Olympic medallist from India, a record which now passes on to his 1948 London Olympics team-mate Keshav Dutt.
Born on December 31, 1923 to Sardar Dalip Singh and Karam Kaur at his maternal village of Haripur Khalsa, Singh went on to become one of the best centre forwards India has produced. He had started his career as a goalkeeper with his school team at Moga before playing as a defender and later a centre forward. As a five-year-old, Singh was given a hockey stick by his freedom fighter father and he recalled it fondly in his autobiography “The Golden Hat-trick”.
He initially played for Sikh National College, Lahore in the early 1940s before making the switch to Khalsa College, Amritsar in 1942 on the insistence of long-time coach Harbail Singh. He would captain Panjab University to three All India Inter-university titles in 1943, 1944 and 1945 before playing for undivided Punjab in the national championships of 1947 before partition.
For Balbir Sr's stellar contribution to the game, Balbir Sr was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour in 1957 and was conferred with the Major Dhyan Chand Life Time Achievement Award by Hockey India in 2014. Balbir Sr also became the only Asian male and only Indian among 16 athletes to be chosen as "Iconic Olympians" by the International Olympic Committee across the modern Olympics' history.
Singh, who lived in Chandigarh with his daughter Sushbir Bhomia, also has three sons settled in Canada.
"Today, we have not only lost our greatest hockey legend but we have also lost 'our guiding light'. While his achievements in post-independent era have been well-documented, Balbir Sr remained the greatest fan of the sport and was always there when we needed his advice. Hockey has lost its brightest star and everyone at Hockey India is pained by this news," expressed Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad, president, Hockey India.
He further added, "Balbir Singh Sr's exemplary achievements, his passion for the sport, his life as an icon of the game will remain an example for generations to come. On behalf of the federation, I express my deepest condolences to his family."
Hockey India secretary general Rajinder Singh too expressed his condolence. "Balbir Sr's achievements in hockey cannot be emulated. It is difficult to mention him in past-tense because for us he was always there. One could call on him for advice at anytime, his spirit and adulation for the game will be missed. I am sure even in his absence, his life as a hockey legend will inspire many generations," stated Rajinder Singh.
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